Venetia Stanley-Smith

Venetia Stanley-Smith (27 December 1950 – 21 June 2023) was a British-born herbalist and essayist based in Ohara [ja], Kyoto, Japan.

Life

Stanley-Smith was born in London, England on 27 December 1950. Her father was George Derek Stanley-Smith, son of Colonel George Edward Stanley Smith. Her mother was Juliana Eveline Curzon, daughter of Richard Curzon, 2nd Viscount Scarsdale, whose uncle was George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India.[1]

Stanley-Smith left England at the age of 19 as a backpacker, and after spending some time in India, settled in Japan aged 21. She married a Japanese man in 1974 and started an Eikaiwa school in Kyoto in 1978.[2] She later divorced him and remarried Tadashi Kajiyama [ja], a Japanese mountain photographer, in 1992, and moved with him to Ohara in 1996.[1] She had two daughters and one son with her first husband and one son with her second husband.[1]

Stanley-Smith became a prominent herbalist in Japan when she was awarded a prize in an NHK herb contest, leading her to write books and give lessons on growing herbs in Japan. Between 2009 and 2013, she was featured in an NHK television series, At Home with Venetia in Kyoto [ja] (Japanese: 猫のしっぽ カエルの手, lit. 'Cat's Tail and Frog's Hand').[3]

Stanley-Smith died from aspiration pneumonia on 21 June 2023 in Kyoto, aged 72.[2][3][4][5]

Selected publications

  • Venetia's Ohara Herb Diary[2]
  • Venetia's Kyoto Country Living[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "ベニシアさんの四季の庭 ［試写会日記］／eHills Club". Ehills.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Herbalist Venetia Stanley-Smith Dies at Kyoto Home". 時事通信ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b "「猫のしっぽ カエルの手」ベニシアさん死去、７２歳…京都・大原で古民家暮らし". 読売新聞オンライン (in Japanese). 25 June 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  4. ^ "British-born Herbalist Venetia Stanley-Smith Dies at 72". 25 June 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  5. ^ Matsumoto, Yuka (5 September 2023). "Remembering Venetia Stanley-Smith, Eco-friendly, U.K.-born Herbalist in Kyoto". The Japan News. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetia_Stanley-Smith